California and the World Oceans Conference ‘06
Long Beach, California
September 17-20, 2006

A Collaborative Three-Legged Stool to Balance Ocean Investigations, Public Understanding, and Decisions

Abstract

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually on ocean research and education by numerous agencies, institutions, universities, non-profits, and industries. Even with these resources, four barriers block common understanding of oceanic processes:

• A common view of the ocean is lacking. Because the ocean landscape is invisible, people look at the ocean from many perspectives. No process unifies those perspectives.
• The Eureka Effect. By nature, scientists are trained to tell the world what they have found, and educators are trained to tell the results of scientific inquiry. They are not trained to be collaborators.
• Competitiveness for funding for ocean research and public education blocks gains that could be made with a collaborative approach.
• Variable and inadequate government funding. Funding for ocean research and education has been variable and inadequate, frustrating the consistency necessary for long-term understanding.

Overcoming these barriers requires a three-part collaborative process that can be envisioned as a stool. Each leg of the stool represents a successful collaboration that will result in a base to improve management, conservation, and protection of the ocean. The three sturdy legs of the stool are:

• Investigations. Scientists and researchers collaborating aggressively to close gaps in knowledge.
• Understanding. Educators joining together to provide innovative and interactively- presented ocean information leading to public support for fact-based ocean policy decisions.
• Decisions. Ocean interests embracing the mutual goal of demanding that gaps in understanding be closed so policy decisions can be based on agreed-upon facts rather than simply differences in values.

The presentation proposes a unified view of the ocean using geographical information system (GIS) technology to help coordinate collection and sharing of data and integrate and coordinate the institutions responsible for ocean and coastal resources. The presentation was finalized in collaboration with ocean researchers, educators, and interests.